Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsWHAT IS HAPPENING (Spoilers)
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2021
I just finished this book, and I’m entirely perplexed. No, flabbergasted. Bamboozled if you will. My only coherent thought is…WHY?!?!?
Let me back up. To clear the air, I adore Jennifer Barnes. She’s a wickedly talented writer and excellent mystery-maker and just an all-around phenomenal author. I’ve read the beginning of this series, The Fixer and The Hawthorne Legacy series. I am definitely a fan.
Or, at least I was. Until I finished this book, and spotted a pattern I’m seeing commonly woven into her work. Something which leaves me so wholly frustrated and confused and a wealth of conflicting emotions. Barnes is the reigning queen of the love triangle trope (which I live for!), but the CHOICE she ends up constructing for her protagonist in all of these series is just utterly confounding. It seems like a plot line she likes to run with is the following: Girl is caught between two boys. One is brooding, standoffish, reserved and pushes her away, unsure of his feelings for her. The other is the opposite; he makes her laugh, he looks out for her, he’s patient with her, and he’s all in. She has to choose between them, and she dances around it until she doesn’t.
In this particular book, what’s WILD to me is who she goes for in the end, and what exactly makes the decision for her. IMHO, Michael should have been the obvious choice, largely because of their chemistry, and his consistency - i.e. everything he did for from Day 1 - and how his personality really compliments hers. And yet, mysteriously, Cassie makes a final decision to go for Dean - largely because after a near-death experience he happens to show up to help save her?! Wait, what!? …What about when Michael literally gets shot and then STILL manages to save her LIFE in book 1? I mean, Dean running to her after she’s been rescued is cool and all, but I guess I’m struggling to understand why that would be the tipping point. Michael is the one who has been there for her consistently since she joined the group. Not Dean. I…am at a loss with that choice.
I feel like I’m really struggling with this romantic outcome because of how The Hawthorne Legacy series follows a similar model (which also deeply frustrated me).
(GENERAL SPOILERS ABOUT HAWTHORNE LEGACY HERE PLS DO NOT CARRY ON IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE SERIES YET)
There, the story is a carbon copy. Girl is stuck between two boys. Girl has crazy chemistry with one boy, the other boy is on the fence. Girl almost dies. The other boy shows up at the right moment and time, and that boy is suddenly ‘The One.’ Even though Girl has spent the past two books hung up on the first boy. It’s all just a bit…difficult to buy into. And even harder to root for.
I loved The Naturals, and I liked this book, but I won’t be continuing with the series because of this implausibility. A romance you’re invested in is certainly not the *most* important thing in YA literature, but it’s definitely pretty key. And I hate to say it, but I’m not onboard with this one.
